This invention relates to coke oven doors, and particularly to apparatus for support and guiding of a door on installation in a horizontal coke oven.
Conventional equipment for support and installation of coke oven doors is of two types. A first type involves placement of two or more pairs of hangers at spaced elevations on the frame for receiving fixed support bars of the door itself. The door is lifted and placed on the hangers by a pusher, or door machine, which then slides the door on the hangers into position against the frame. Subsequently, the latching mechanisms on the door are engaged and torqued to apply pressure on the seal. There are two major disadvantages to this type of support mechanism. First, it is virtually impossible to align the two pairs of hooks properly so as to prevent tilting of the door from top to bottom with respect to the frame. Secondly, even if the hooks are aligned properly, the door machine itself will likely place the door in a canted position on the hooks. Then, latching forces which are applied to the door are used partially at least to overcome friction of the slidable supports on the hangers to correctly align the door against the frame. The remaining latching force then will vary depending on the position of the door resulting in non-uniform sealing pressures each time the door is installed. A second type of support mechanism consists of a single pair of hangers extending from the oven and a roller support mounted on the door. Such a design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,986, Freund. The roller is part of the latching mechanism in which the weight of the door forces the roller out against a stop at the remote end of the hangers to apply pressure on the seal. This design has the disadvantage that the roller does not support the door in an exact vertical attitude on the hangers. The door machine must remain engaged with the door to align it on the hangers and then to lower it and simultaneously move it into engagement with the frame. It is apparent that the alignment of the door in this type of support depends on the movement of the door machine and the positioning of the support against the stop of the hangers. As a result, the alignment of the door with the frame varies each time the door is installed and prevents effective sealing.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an apparatus for supporting and guiding a self-sealing door for a horizontal coke oven so as to position the seal of the door frame each time the door is installed.